Fonseca: Players showed their character

Sunday, February 26, 2017

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Head coach of Shakhtar shared his take on the encounter with Vorskla

- Good evening. It was a hard and well-deserved victory. After the first half, we were losing not having finished off a great many chances. The team got tired after the previous match, still claiming a positive result and believing in themselves again. Today, the opponents have defended very well. We created many scoring opportunities, not managing to convert them for a long while. We succeeded in doing so in the very end – the lads seemed to believe in themselves and find the strength to finish the match with a win. After being unfairly knocked off the Europa League just recently, the players, in my opinion, showed character. They demonstrated their actual worth.

- Is there any difference between the support in Kharkiv and Lviv?
- We’ve always had some support, including Lviv. However, we have many more fans here, so we feel it a bit more. For us it’s important to see the people who fill the stadium and support us until the very end. We are really grateful to them for that.

- Have the team had enough time to get used to the pitch turf at the OSC Metalist?
- In almost all our games lately, I’ve noticed the absence of a single pitch in perfect condition. Clearly the turf here isn’t in its optimum condition, but we’ve got no choice. In this kind of weather, the field can hardly be any better at all. It’s true that this somewhat complicates our performance, but we should accept this fact. Nothing can be done – this is just another difficulty we must overcome. Again, based on the games I watched, the following is noticeable: the pitch surfaces in other cities can’t be described as high-quality ones either. We are getting used to that. At the moment, we should simply pray for the good weather to come soon – I think the pitches will literally bloom then.

- You were outraged by the refereeing in the UEFA Europa League. How do you like today’s officiating?
- The refereeing was good, I can’t say anything bad. There were some skirmishes, when the players were shouting something to do with ball handling in the box, but I couldn’t see the details of that episode from my position. I’ve got no complaints about the referees today.